Influence of chronic smoking on the dose due to radon exposure

Edilaine Honorio da Silva (1) , Estelle Davesne (1, 2) , Y. Bonchuk (3) , G. Ratia (3) , B. Madas (4) , V. Berkovskyy (3) , David Broggio (1)

1 IRSN/PSE-SANTE/SDOS/LEDI - Laboratoire d'évaluation de la dose interne
2 INSTN - Institut National des Sciences et Techniques Nucléaires
3 Ukrainian Radiation Protection Institute
4 MTAE - Centre for Energy Research [Budapest]

Introduction Lung cancer is the second most common type of cancer worldwide, with two major causes being smoking and radon exposure. But how chronic smoking affects radon doses to the lungs is not clear. In this study, we identified smoking related parameters that could influence the dose received by the lungs from radon. Methods Changes in the lungs and respiratory functions caused by smoking found in the literature were used to adjust the Human Respiratory Tract Model and calculations were performed to assess the influence of smoking on the radon doses. Also based in the literature a new dose calculation tool for quantitative assessment of the impact of smoking and other factors, such as age, sex, nasal or mouth breathing habits is under preparation. To ensure the quality of calculations, the developed code is applied for the quality assurance programme of the ICRP Task Group on Internal Dose Coefficients and in the preparation of ICRP publications and electronic datasets. Additionally, PHITS was used for validation of the energy transport calculations. These tools will incorporate functionalities for the analysis of the sensitivity of estimates of lung tissue absorbed doses to changes in the lung deposition pattern, source-target geometry and biokinetics associated with smoking. Results Smoking was found to change the thickness of epithelial layers and length of cilia in the respiratory tract and influence respiratory parameters. Clearance of inhaled aerosol also differs in smokers and non-smokers, indicating that smoking could influence absorption into blood and muco-ciliary transport. A pilot version of the tool for calculating the alpha particles energy deposition in the tissues of the human respiratory tract has been developed. Conclusions Data available from the literature suggests that smoking could lead to changes relevant to the calculation of radiation doses in the respiratory tract, potentially impacting the dose received by smokers due to radon.

Mots clés: Radiation protection; radon; cigarette smoking; organ dose; lungs

Domaines: Physique [physics]

Edilaine Honorio da Silva, Estelle Davesne, Y. Bonchuk, G. Ratia, B. Madas, et al.. Influence of chronic smoking on the dose due to radon exposure. ERPW2022 - 6th European Radiation Protection Week, Oct 2022, Estoril (Portugal), Portugal. ⟨irsn-04021230⟩